Читать книгу Canning Essentials - Jackie Callahan Parente - Страница 7

My mother grew up in poverty on a farm in Ohio. When she was a child, her family had no choice but to maximize what they took out of the soil and use or preserve every scrap. As her child a generation later, I helped her can and freeze the fruits and vegetables that we grew. We’d freeze sides of beef and pork that we had ordered from local farmers. With this stored bounty, we could spend the winter tapping into the jars on the shelves under the basement stairs and the goods frozen in our large chest freezer. Having grown up in the 1950s, I also remember how so-called convenience foods began to appear in our kitchen and on our supper table. Processed foods with extended shelf lives seemed to make food storage and preparation easier. As we all know, that trend became the norm.

Without getting into the fray of arguments between industrialized food and sustainable farming, let’s revisit this notion of convenience food and dispel some of the fallacies surrounding home food preservation:

Are convenience foods really more convenient than home-preserved foods?

Are preserved foods always less nutritious than fresh ones?

Is home food preservation really feasible for today’s hyper-busy population?

Convenience is subjective, of course. But with a little planning and about the time you would spend watching one episode of your favorite sitcom, you can have a number of wholesome meals sitting in the freezer. And having a winter’s worth of vegetables, fruits, and meats stored under your own roof can save you some visits to the grocery store. That seems pretty convenient. Want to give some very special holiday gifts without enduring the hassle and expense of shopping? Who wouldn’t be thrilled to get a jar of your homemade jam, pickles, or salsa? It’s easy to create custom labels and pretty packaging, too.

What’s more convenient than going out to the garden and picking tomatoes for your salad? Perhaps stepping into your pantry for a jar of canned tomatoes.

“But home food preservation is too complicated,” you protest. “Myth,” I retort. First, you do not need to have an advanced degree or special training to put away food that is safe and nutritious. Current generations do lack the personal tutoring that was available for prior generations, but you’ll find plenty of support available through your local Cooperative Extension Service, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and canning and preserving groups such as Canning Across America, which orchestrated a nationwide “canvolution” and National Can-It-Forward Day to raise awareness of and support interest in canning. And according to Jarden Home Brands (makers of Ball- and Kerr-brand Mason jars, based in Daleville, Indiana), industry sales of canning equipment were up 35 percent in 2011. That means there are a lot of folks who are interested in getting back to home food preservation, so you’re sure to find a buddy.